Stress Release
by Know-It-All-2009
Summary: How will Ashley Seaver handle her first family annihilator case? Who will be there to catch her when it all gets to much for her?
1. Part 1

**Stress Release  
**Fandom:Criminal Minds**  
**_Paring: Ashley Seaver & Spencer Reid_  
Authoress: Know-It-All-2008  
Teen

* * *

Spencer Reid watched as Ashley Seaver ran out of the house, barely making it past the crime scene tape before losing the contents of her stomach. Reid moved as to go towards her but Rossi beat him to it, asking her if they had been her first family annialtor case, which everyone knew, she was a rookie not even finished with her academy training. When she finally came back inside he maneuvered himself to where he was standing next to her before he spoke.

"You ok?" he asked, before heading back towards the daughter's room, knowing the police had finished up in there. He only glanced back once to make sure she was following him.

Once inside the room he shut the door, thankful they had already removed the daughter's body. He watched as Ashley took a ragged breath, pushing her hair back with her hand before speaking.

"Yeah, I will be. There's a difference between seeing the pictures in training and actually seeing them." She said, even though she knew he already knew this. It was well known he didn't do so well on his first few cases either.

"Catch your breath before you go back out there. I'll check on you once we get back to the motel." Without another word the infamous genius of the BAU did something that surprised her, he picked up her wrist before hitting a spot with his thumb and forefinger before he walked back out of the bedroom to rejoin the rest of the team, leaving Ashley more relaxed than she had been before, she wondered why he even cared when they all knew who her father was, and what on earth he had just done to get the tension out of her body.

Once back outside she rejoined Morgan and Rossi, listening as they pointed out things she had already learned in her training, but she nodded and listened as was expected of her.

As they were dismissed for the night JJ mentioned something about food, which made Seaver's stomach turn.

"I'm going to pass. I'm not used to fourteen hour days yet. Sleep wins this time." She said lightly, the team chose to ignore the real reason she wasn't joining them, they all had trouble eating after their first few cases.

"We'll bring something back for you. You like Shrimp Lo Mein right?" Hotch asked, noticing she was having trouble focusing. It honestly surprised Ashley he remembered what she liked, he had taken her to eat after her father's case.

"Sounds good." She said dismissively, forcing a smile on her face.

"Reid, do you mind taking her back? I want you to run a geographical profile, if I asked anyone else it would take hours. I know you can manage it quickly and still get enough sleep. We reconvene at seven am." With Hotch it wasn't a question and Reid knew as much, but he also knew Hotch was right; he'd be done with a geographical profile in under an hour, long before the rest of the team would be able to finish it.

"Sounds good," Reid said, "You ready to go Seaver? The sooner I get this profile done the sooner I can sleep."

"Yep." Was the only answer she gave before slipping into the passenger side of the SUV that Reid had started heading towards. Once he had the car in drive and headed back towards their motel she finally cracked.

"What did you do back there?" she asked nodding towards the house they were pulling away from. "To my wrist I mean."

Reid chuckled at her curiosity before answering her.

"There are several main pressure points on the body, when hit just right they release stress from the body, allowing your mind to slow down and your body to relax. It helped me when my thoughts would consume me as a child, I didn't quite know what to do with all the information my brain stored so it got overwhelming for a while until I learned how to sort it out." He sounded less like the text book she had met a few weeks before, making her wonder what had changed, maybe he had finally gotten comfortable around her.

"Well thank you for that, it felt wonderful." She said, blushing when she realized how her statement could be misconstrued, causing Reid to laugh out right.

"It's fine, I know what you mean. It does help. When we get back to the motel grab a shower, it will help your muscles release, when I finish on the profile I'll come check on you. You're lucky you got your own room this trip, I'm bunked with Derrick, and he snores like a freight train."

The conversation changed to what she was going over in the academy until they finally pulled up in front of the run down motel they were staying in. Ashley tried to wave him off but gave up when Spencer insisted on walking her to her motel room door, unlocking it for her, before giving her room a cursory glance and leaving her to enjoy her bath.

"I'll be back to check on you in forty minutes." He said as he walked off, leaving her alone in what now seemed like an empty motel room, something she was starting to get used to. Being alone at night was one of the worst parts of her job; it gave her too much time to think. She shook her head, trying to clear it of any thought before she pulled her curtains closed, removing her suit as she headed towards the bathroom, turning the taps on as high as they would go before pulling the leaver that allowed her to take a bath.

It was something she started shortly after she started working with them, JJ had recommended it to her when they had roomed together, saying it helped release the stress and toxins from her body and just gave her time to relax and not think. Since then she had always carried a vanilla bubble bath with her, no matter how trivial it seemed, it helped her relax so she found room for it in her small go-bag.

She added a small amount of it in her water before sinking into the scalding hot water. She lost track of time as she scrubbed her skin raw when she heard a knocking on her door, a glance at her watch told her it wasn't Reid so that meant it was her food. She grabbed the flimsy robe the motel had there, slipping it over her wet body before opening the door, to see a stunned Reid on the other side of her door, holding her Shrimp Lo Mein in one hand and his food in the other.

"Sorry, JJ stopped by with the food and I offered to bring yours by; didn't realize you'd still be in the shower…" Seaver cut him off with a laugh.

"It's fine, you can set it on the table, if you give me a minute, I'll change and be right back out." She said this without really waiting for an answer, slipping back into the bathroom, closing the door partial behind her before slipping into her FBI pt shirt and shorts, wishing she had brought a bra into the bathroom, before remembering the sports bra she wore was hanging over the shower rod, slipping that on underneath her physical training clothing she felt slightly more ready to face the man on the other side of her bathroom door. Taking a deep breath she wrapped her hair up in a turban before stepping out of the bathroom again, accidently sneaking up on Reid, who was trying to figure out whose food was whose.

"Mine's the shrimp lo mein" she said before pulling out a chair and motioning him to do the same. " Did you get your profile finished?" she asked, not waiting for him to start eating before she dug into her food with the provided fork.

"Hey! That's my fork…" he trailed off as she pulled the forks out of her lips, winking at him before handing it to him.

"Here ya go big boy." She said, laughing before reaching for the chopsticks that had somehow wound up on his side of the table, laughing as he fumbled with his words a bit before taking a deep breath and starting over.

"I got as much done as I can with what's been provided for us, the family's killing and then the shooting on the freeway, it doesn't give us much to go on but it does give us a start." He said before digging into his lo mein with the fork he had stolen back from her. Reaching across to grab one of the two cokes sitting on the table, he took a sip from it and set it back down in front of her, his eyebrow raised in a silent challenge.

Apparently he wasn't all shy and smart.

When she picked up the drink and took a sip from it, he smirked at her before returning back to his food, splitting the first drink with her before moving onto the second one.

"Do you feel better?" he asked, as he stretched his feet out in front of him, trying to work out the kinks from being on his feet for so long.

"I took a bath; it helped but I'm still to wound up to sleep." She was honest with him; it usually took her till one in the morning to fall asleep on a case.

He looked at her for a long moment before he spoke again.

"I can do what I did with the pressure points again if you like, it would help you relax enough to get a little bit more sleep, it's a commodity with this job." As he said this he stood up and stretched, trying to work out a kink in his back from working on the geographical profile in such an uncomfortable chair.

"If you're comfortable with it, it sounds good to me." She said, standing to stretch as well, she really wasn't used to long days like this.

"Lay down on your back then. There is one on your hip right below your hip bone, but I'm going to skip that one." The implied 'for now' hanging clear in his voice as he rolled up the sleeves on his shirt to right below his elbows, and unbuttoning the first button.

He started with her ankles, working his way up to her knees, skipping over her hip bones as promised before getting her wrists again and then moving on to massage her head just at her temples, smirking when something close to a groan crossed her lips.

"Well I'd say your relaxed now." He whispered into her hair, smiling when all she did was nod with her eyes closed. "If you want I'll get the pressure point on your hips" as he said this he let his hands trail to hold her hips on either side of her from his sitting position on the bed, gently running his thumbs over her hip bones.

"Why'd you skip it the first time?" she asked, but she was pretty sure she knew why he skipped it. When his voice dipped, she was positive she was right. " it's a turn on for females." As he said this he hit both pressure points on her hips, laughing when her thin hips came up off the bed, as if searching for his hands.

"Well you're easy to please." He almost crowed as he ran his hand up and down her rib cage through her shirt, avoiding her hips.

"Tease." She said it like it was a swear word before moving herself away from his searching hands. "You either do or you don't, Reid. Don't tease."

The look that had somehow crept into his hooded eyes told her all she needed to know.

"Oh, I'll tease you all right." He said as he pulled her back to him, pulling her flush against him, "but you'll get what you want eventually. I won't start something I won't finish."

He buried his head in her hair before nipping at her ear whispering "The name's Spencer. Get used to it; you'll be screaming it before I'm done with you," before devouring her mouth.

His kiss was searing and demanding and she gave as good as she got, returning the kiss with such passion it surprised him, he wasn't expecting this from her, she was still young. As his hands found their way under her shirt it was the first of many times that night his named slipped from his angel's lips, causing him to smirk before losing himself in her for the first time of the night.

What started out as a small moan soon grew to her almost shouting his name, forcing him to cover her mouth with his hand, he didn't need Derrick, with whom he shared the room next door, hearing her.

As they laid there in some sort of afterglow he turned to look at the young girl next to him, she had buried herself in his shoulder as soon as he wrapped his arm around her once they finished their coupling.

There was something about her that drew him to her. He didn't just randomly sleep with someone he hardly knew; he knew she would be something special to him, a glance at his watch told him it was almost eleven, he needed to get back to his room before he got caught in her room, the last thing he needed was Derek or Hotch on his case.

He set an alarm on her phone, which he was sure she hadn't gotten in the habit of doing, typing in the reminder section 'Last night won't be the only time' before slipping out her door and into his room next door.

As soon as the door closed behind him he was met with a grinning Derek Morgan.

"I didn't know you had it in you pretty boy." He said, enjoying the red tint that graced Spencer's face.

"Just because I don't advertise my sex life doesn't mean I'm a priest." Spencer said before diving into his bed, deciding on getting a shower in the morning.

"But that hickey she left on your neck will." Derek said, laughing at how quickly Reid jumped out of his bed, heading for a mirror, and sure enough there was a red hickey just above where his collar would be on his work shirt.

"Damn. How do I hide that?" He said, turning to look at Derek.

"Ask Seaver, I'm sure she can work some magic with her makeup bag in the morning. Get some sleep pretty boy; I think she gave you a run for your money if what I heard was anything to go by."

A pillow flew across the room as Spencer settled in to get a decent night's sleep.


	2. Part 2

**Stress Release**,_ Part Two_  
Criminal Minds  
**Know-It-All-2008**  
Teen to Mature

* * *

Ashley woke up well before her alarm went off; it gave her time to shower before anyone came knocking on her door. She relished the hot water on her skin as she remembered the night before; she never would have guessed that Spencer Reid would have been that through of a lover, but he had proven her wrong many times last night. As she stepped out of the shower she heard her alarm go off, as well as an alarm on the other side of the wall, she assumed it was Spencer's doing since she didn't remember setting her alarm for six but she had be thoroughly wore out. Dressing in her suit she dried her hair before pulling it into a French twist, hoping to keep it out of her face for the day before applying a small amount of make-up to her face, just something to bring out her eyes, she didn't feel like sweating off a full face of make-up within an hour.

Just as she put a final sweep of lip gloss over her baby pink lips a rap at her door surprised her. Pulling her gun from the nightstand draw where she kept it she checked the peep hole to see Derek Morgan and none other than Spencer Reid on the other side of her door. She took a deep breath before opening the door motioning them inside as she reached for her gun holster.

"Morning boys." She said as she began the process of pulling her holster over her shoulders before placing her FBI issued gun in one pocket and her personal gun in the second.

"Since when do ladies carry two guns?" Derrick asked, his eyebrow raised, most of the female FBI agents only carried one, if they carried two they had a damn good reason for carrying two. When she put a knife up her sleeve pocket, his eyebrow disappeared into his hairline.

"Since their fathers where serial killers; one of the victims' families figured out my relation to him, I still have the scar on my back, I'd prefer to never go through that again."

Derek quickly realized he had crossed a line, he knew you didn't ask about the amount of weapons someone in law enforcement carried or why they changed their holster but something about her made him break his own rule.

"We figured you might want to grab a cup of coffee before we headed down to the station, care to join us?" Spencer asked, thankfully interrupting the hard look Ashley had directed at one Derek Morgan.

"Sounds good." The smile she usually had on her face returned, flashing it to both Derek and Spencer as they began walking towards the SUV they would use that morning.

"It sounded like you had an interesting night." Derek said, shooting Ashley a look in the rearview mirror pleased to see that she didn't turn pink like he expected her to, although Spencer did have an interesting shade of red on his neck.

"Your point?" the question was sharp and she meant for it to sting if it kept him out of her personal life as she dug into a small clutch she had with her, passing Reid a small stick of concealer and foundation, tapping him on the shoulder with the product, smiling at him when he took it.

"Ouch. You have some fire to you, though I figured that out quick enough last night by the screams you were giving off." By this point he had a full blown grin on his face, not far from the one she saw on Spencer's face last night as they came down from their own personal highs. The look Spencer and Ashley both gave him, however, had him silent for the rest of the ride to the café they had spotted on their way into town the other night as Spencer began the tedious process of trying to cover the hickey that was prominently showing on his neck.

The waiter who looked to be in his late to mid-twenties seemed to focus his attention more on Ashley, who deflected it very well, ordering three coffees and three of the breakfast plates before all but dismissing the poor young man.

They made small talk about the case as they ate, Ashley's appetite finally having returned allowing her to finish her full meal before either man came to close to finishing theirs. As she sipped on her coffee she wondered if she would have to worry about Morgan being a gossip, she sure hoped not, their job didn't allow much room for gossipers.

Morgan either caught her train of thought or she had stated her worry out loud but one glance at Spencer told her she hadn't been thinking out loud when the older man began to speak.

"You're both grown; I really don't care what you do. Just didn't realize Reid here had it in him was all, we've never seen, or should I say, heard him with a woman before, I was just picking on him earlier." Just as Derek said this she saw rest of the team clamor in, allowing a change of subject back to the case at hand as coffee was doled out for the rest of the team.

The case lasted for a few days and once they were finally home all Ashley could think about was a hot shower and a good night's sleep, thankfully Hotch told them to go home and get some rest and that they were to finish up their reports by three the next day and email them to him and that he would see them Monday morning.

Ashley dallied just long enough to grab the report she had started on the plane from her desk before making her way downstairs towards her car when her phone buzzed with a text message. Flipping open her phone she quickly read the text off the screen: '_You hungry: Chinese?'_ – Reid. It was short and simple but she could read between the lines, he was offering her somewhere to stay for the night, it was the first really bad case she had been on, and they hadn't had time for each other since that first night expect for a glance here or there and the fact he used his personal cell instead of his work phone made it all the more obvious. '_Sounds good'_ she shot off before stepping into her car and cranking it, fiddling long enough with the radio for him to respond. '_Follow the brown car' _

They had stayed long enough that the rest of the team, minus Hotch who was still up in his office working on his share of the reports, had already left for the night so when a lone brown car pulled up behind her with enough space for her to pull out and follow, she didn't even have to look to know it was him, she just pulled right behind his car, following the windy road to his apartment.

When she pulled her car in next to his at his apartment complex, he was already standing outside his car holding the key in one hand, reaching to open her door with the other.

"A modern day Casanova, nice," the teasing tone in her voice caused him to blush before he shook it off with a grin.

"My mother raised me to be a gentleman, she was a professor in 15th Century Literature." As he said this he offered her his arm before escorting her upstairs to his apartment, locking the reinforced door chained behind them. He chuckled at her lack of reaction to the shelves and shelves of books he had, noticing she gravitated towards them as if she wanted to browse.

"Feel free to look at the books, I'm going to go change real quick, the bathroom is through the hallway on the right if you want to change out of those heels, they look uncomfortable." It was his subtle way of saying to make herself comfortable which she caught on to quick enough, glad she had thought to bring her go bag upstairs with her.

She changed into a pair of FBI sweats and her second training shirt, the two things in her go bag that didn't need washing before slipping back into the living room before taking him up on his offer to browse his books. She wasn't too surprised to see that he had a few books in Latin and what she thought was Greek but the books written in kanji did surprise her, as she pulled one from the shelf to get a closer look, his voice startled her.

"It's Japanese, I took a slight interest in it when I was in college because of the fact they were such an isolated society. It was a pure language." His offering this information didn't surprise her in the least; he truly seemed to love learning. What surprised her however was when she turned around and he was standing there holding out a glass of red wine to her, she was surprised that he drank.

"I don't drink often, but I usually do tend to keep a bottle of red wine put up." He said as he sat down on his couch, watching as she relaxed into the other end of the couch, keeping a respectable distance between them as he picked up the phone to place their delivery order. As soon as the order was placed however he opened his left arm pulling her on top of him in one quick tug. When she collided with his chest he let out a laugh before stretching out underneath her on the couch, pulling her down for a quick kiss.

"I wanted to do that every day we were in the field." His voice had deepened and he began calculating how long it usually took for the delivery kid to show up with his order; if he hurried he had all the time he needed before he deepened the kiss, flipping her around so that she wound up underneath him, taking the breathe from her with every kiss he stole. When his hand slipped under her shirt as light as a feather she didn't even try to bother hiding the hiss that slipped out of her lips before she attacked his neck, forcing his shirt over his head in one quick movement, taking her time to run her hands up and down before licking a trail from his nipple to his bellybutton, earning a laugh when his hips collided into hers forcefully. She then repeated the same path, this time with light kisses, enjoying the fact he seemed to have to force himself to hold back.

"We don't have time…" he was cut off as she returned to his lips, biting, kissing, and sucking, all in one movement before she was the one forcing herself to pull back.

"I know, but it's fun to get you riled up." The throaty whisper with which she echoed this sentiment was broken by a forceful knock on his door, causing them to break apart and her to laugh when he scrambled for his shirt and his wallet in one movement, almost tripping over his own feet before finally pulling his shirt back on and going to pay the delivery guy, coming back with his arms loaded with food, setting all four containers down on his coffee table before offering her what she assumed was her shrimp lo mein and a container of fried rice.

He watched her as she pulled her blonde hair up into a ponytail before digging into her food like she hadn't eaten a decent meal in a week, which was almost the case, they usually ate cheap and fast on cases, something that took a while to adjust to. He put a movie on mainly for background noise as they ate and talked about his schooling or either the FBI Academy before his phone went off, when he placed a finger to his lips she knew it was someone they worked with.

"Please don't tell me it's another case Rossi?" he asked, hoping they wouldn't have to go back out in the field so quickly again. When he breathed a sigh of relief she knew he had guessed wrong. She couldn't hear what Rossi was saying on the other side of the line but when he smiled she assumed it was all good.

"Dinner sounds great," was his response even though is eyes told another story, "Have you called everyone else yet?" Ashley knew he was thinking about her but when he said ok and hung up she wasn't so sure.

"Looks like we're doing a team dinner at Rossi's tonight; you should be getting a call from JJ any minute now." As he said this he saw her phone go off, rather than hear it, the grin on her face told him he had, in fact, been correct as she answered her phone.

"I haven't made it home yet but I'm about fifteen minutes out," at this statement Reid raised his eyebrow, there weren't any apartment complex's within fifteen minutes of his, unless she was referring to a house, and with her being in the academy he doubted she was talking about a house. She caught his searching look when she pointed upwards and then raised two fingers, apparently she lived in the same complex he did if he understood her correctly. "That sounds great JJ, the name of the complex is Rolling Hills…oh I didn't realize Reid lived out here but I go in at such an ungodly hour it's not surprising….No I don't have his number why don't you call him and check to see if he's ok with that, but it would save me from getting lost…sounds good just text me and let me know."

When she hung up she couldn't help but laugh at the adorable look on his face.

"You live in this complex?" he asked, trying to make sure he understood correctly.

"Yep, fifth floor. Have for a few months now but I usually take the back entrance so that's probably why you haven't seen me, speaking of I need to run upstairs and change, when we get back tonight I'll give you the grand tour of casa de Ashley."

With that said they parted ways, Reid responding in the positive when JJ called to ask if he could give Seaver a ride, thankfully they hadn't started on a second glass of wine. When she rang to ask what she should wear he responded with dressy but casual as that was how all of Rossi's dinner affairs went.

As soon as they entered the door, Rossi offered to take her jacket, earning him a smile before giving her a kiss on the check as he did with JJ when she entered right behind him. Apparently his spaghetti was to die for from the rumors she had heard, she was honestly surprised she was invited after all she was just their trainee agent, but the more time she spent around this team the more she realized they operated more like a family than any other team she had worked with.

When she finally spotted JJ, she was glad she had chosen to wear her sundress as it matched the style JJ was wearing, something they had figured out on the phone together.

"I didn't realize you and Reid lived in the same apartment complex." JJ said before pulling Ashley in for a hug.

"I didn't either but I'm usually out the door before five am most mornings so it's not surprising we haven't run into each other." Ashley said, repeating what she had told Spencer not forty minutes earlier. She smiled and thanked Aaron when he pressed a glass of red wine into her hand. Apparently tonight was a wine drinking event.

JJ laughed at Ashley's sour look at being up at five am.

"I remember those days, they weren't all fun and games but we all made it through. Minus Spencer here, he got a physical wavier and if Hotch hadn't of taken a special interest in him I don't think pretty boy would have ever learned how to use a gun."

Reid of course jumped to his own defense but his reply was drowned out by the teams' laughter at his expense, which Ashley noticed, he took it all in stride.

"You're a pretty good shot from what I've heard." Derek said, surprising Ashley with a hug from behind that earned him a pointed look from Reid.

"Practice makes perfect. I put 110% into what I do at the academy, my instructor is stricter on me than most because of my father, but I'm fine with that it makes me better at what I do." She tried to downplay their praise but they wouldn't have any of that.

"Your scores are some of the top the academy has seen academically since Reid went through, don't sell yourself short." Aaron said, smiling at her as did the rest of the team "Which is why we're here tonight, I talked to Strauss and your instructor, you will be able to finish your training with the team if you chose and as soon as you finish the academy they have stated they would like to take the profiling classes, a position on the team is yours if you want it."

The room had gone silent at Aaron's announcement, most hadn't known about the offer that was to be extended to her as all eyes turned to her, smiles on their faces.

"I'm honored that one would even be extended, they hinted when I first joined that I would be stuck in white collar crime for the majority of my career and I accepted it as fact. I would like to become a profiler if the offer still stands when I finish the academy." The smile that radiated off her was contagious as they, one by one hugged her in turn before turning to the meal at hand.

Conversation turned to Henry and Jack with whom Ashley hadn't had the chance to meet, which prompted a get together with the boys on their next free day when suddenly Ashley's phone rang she glanced at the number that displayed across the front, not many people had this particular cell phone number, it was her work phone.

She went to step away from the table but JJ pulled her by the arm back down, they knew it was her work number and were curious who would be calling her at eleven at night.

"Seaver." She said as she flipped the phone open, earning a laugh from nearly half the table, that was a trait she had picked up from them and they knew it.

"Yes sir. No sir we just got back about two hours ago….it went fine…yes sir" a glance at her watch had her eyes opening just the smallest amount before she schooled her features again. "yes sir. Five am it is. See you then sir."

The groan she let out had them laughing before they began to pepper her for information.

"Who was that?" Aaron was the first to get the pressing question out of his mouth.

"That was my academy instructor; apparently I'm running the gauntlet tomorrow morning by myself since I missed out on the last gauntlet run." Normally the gauntlet wouldn't bother her but she hadn't had much sleep in the past week and she was sure her instructor knew that and she had never run the gauntlet by herself before.

"If you have to be at the academy at five you're going to be up at four." Aaron said more a statement than a question. "He has you running the gauntlet on only five…four hours sleep by the time you get home?" this was an actual question and was directed at Ashley.

"Yes he does, and he can do it. I changed my last name not to be recognized because of my father but that doesn't mean my instructor doesn't have access to that information." She sighed, tomorrow was going to be a long day, she was sure it would be nine or ten that morning before he let her go so she was looking at four or five hours of pure physical torture.

"If that's the case I need to get you home; tomorrow's going to be tough enough on you without adding sleep deprivation to it as well." Reid said, effectively excusing Ashley and he from the rest of the evening, not missing the look Hotch shot the rest of the team, while Ashley did miss it.

They made it back to their apartment complex forty minutes after ten, Reid allowing himself into her apartment, smiling when she made a bee line for her bed, not caring that he was there as she changed back into her pajamas and crawling under the covers, laughing at his perplexed look.

"You joining me or not, Spencer? I did promise you we'd continue what we started." As she said this she pushed the covers back as if for him to join her.

"Not tonight Ashley, you need your sleep, I'll be waiting for you after you finish the gauntlet tomorrow morning though. Stop by my apartment when you get in, I have a bed you can crash in and don't worry about getting your report in until tomorrow night, Aaron will understand."

With that he gave her a kiss on the head before letting himself out of her apartment and leaving her to what little sleep she would get.


	3. Part 3

**Stress Release, **_Part Three_  
Criminal Minds  
**Know-It-All-2008**  
Teen to Mature

* * *

When her alarm went off at four am that morning it took all she had to drag herself out of bed and into the shower before stumbling out and into her training gear and wind suit, looking at a pot of coffee that she was sure she hadn't set a timer for the night before, then remembering Reid had walked her to her door, she made a mental note to thank him for that once it was a decent hour. As she pulled into the Training Academy's parking lot she was surprised to see quite a few cars there, once she made it onto the field by four thirty however she was even more surprised to see Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Derek Morgan, JJ and Spencer Reid all in training gear, doing some form of warm up.

"You're late!" JJ yelled across the field as soon as she spotted the young girl.

"Didn't realize this was a group event." She said as she dropped her bag next to the rest of theirs before joining JJ in stretching out her ligaments and tendons. She was stiff as a board and she only had twenty minutes to warm up, this was going to be pure torture.

"We work as a team or haven't you figured that out, sugar?" She didn't even have to look to know that was Morgan's voice.

"Well thanks for the thought, when was the last time any of you ran the gauntlet?" she asked, knowing it had been a while for some of them.

The general consensus was their academy days expect for Derek, JJ and surprisingly Reid who all came out on alternating Saturday's and Sunday's.

"It started out as a way to get me into shape but we just kept it up from there." Reid said, surprising her when he snuck up behind her, which landed him flat on the track mat.

"Shit! Reid, don't sneak up on me; it's an automatic response." She said, before watching him pull himself up to his feet.

"It's fine; I should of learned my lesson when JJ matted me that way a few weeks ago." He played it off but she knew he would make her pay for it later if the heat in his eyes was anything to judge by.

By that point her academy instructor had shown up, surprised to see her entire team there with her.

"You sure are a loyal bunch; you realize I'm running her hard today. She missed the last two gauntlets because she was away with you guys. Seaver you're running it three times today" He said, trying to give them time to back out but one look at them told him they wouldn't back down from it. "You're lucky Seaver. Do you all remember how it's run?" he asked.

When he got nod's from five and a chuckle from Ashley, as if she would forget anytime soon, he lined them up and with a blow of his whistle they took off towards the field, working in pairs to get over the wall, Derrick vaulting JJ and Spencer up, while Aaron vaulted Ashley before clamoring over the wall themselves followed quickly by David. The rope course was the hardest part for David and Aaron while the rest had either brute strength or their limberness to help them get across quickly onto the tires, working their way through it with a little effort before the full body drag over the wall, Seaver slowed just enough to demonstrate how she learned it before carrying her body double over the wall, followed by JJ, Derrick, Hotch, Rossi, and finally Reid, topping the wall seconds after one another. Once under the razor wire it was onto the academy's equivalent of monkey bars which they all seemed to do fine on before starting the course again completing each run faster than the previous run.

When they finished their final run JJ and Ashley fell to the ground, giggling like school girls glad the torture was over Aaron and David a close second on hitting the ground, minus the giggling. Spencer reached out to pull Ashley up while Derek pulled JJ to her feet in one pull, laughing at Aaron and David who were stuck helping each other up, much to everyone's amusement.

"We've been out here almost three hours; I think its breakfast time." Derek said, earning weary smiles from everyone.

"Hit the showers, and then meet at that all day breakfast place across the street?" JJ asked, already dragging Ashley towards the showers before anyone had time to reply, knowing they would all be there. Thankfully Ashley remembered to bring her shower supplies as JJ had forgotten her things. They managed to pass back and forth her body wash and shampoo conditioner mix and still finish before the men on their team did.

"What took you boys so long? My hair's practically had time to dry in this heat." JJ asked as she slid into her car grinning at the gaggle of men walking out of the showers.

"We only had three shower heads between us and Dave's a primadonna. Now I believe food was mentioned, let's get to it." Aaron said, dodging the friendly blow David sent his way. "I would say call Garcia but I'm not brave enough to make that phone call…Derek you interested?"

Derek laughed before shaking his head in the negative.

"Eight o'clock on a day off? I don't think so, even I'm not that brave." He said chuckling before following the flow of cars toward the breakfast place they frequented when they pulled all-nighters.

Thankfully the corner booth was open leaving all six plenty of room to sit without taking up too much of the aisle space. When their waitress automatically came over with six coffee cups, she knew they came here a lot.

"I don't know this one. I assume you'll want coffee like the rest?" As she asked this she poured the other five cups and with a nod from Ashley poured her own cup of coffee. "Do you all want your usual's?" The fact she remembered five people's separate orders told her this was a good place to eat at.

When she had written down their usual orders she turned her attention to Ashley.

"What can I get you baby girl?" Ashley looked over the menu briefly before ordering the breakfast plate, causing the entire table to laugh as well as their waitress.

"What'd I miss?" she asked, glancing around the table once their waitress walked off with their order.

"We all got the same thing; we've been coming here so long that we never got anything else." Derek said, smiling at her, "you'll fit in just fine hun."

Coffee was shared generously as they went through two pots before their orders arrived and another two while they ate and talked.

People started drifting off by eleven, leaving Ashley and Spencer alone drinking what was left of their coffee.

"You still want to catch some sleep?" Spencer asked after he had paid for their meals, waving off her debit card when she tried to pay.

"Sleep sounds wonderful, follow you back to the apartment?" she asked this as she entered her car, knowing he would agree to it and with a nod of his head, followed him back to the Rolling Hills apartment complex.

They took the stairs two at a time, only pausing for Reid to push his key into the lock on his door, grabbing Ashley by the crock of her elbow before shutting and locking the door behind her, giving her a quick kiss before dragging her to his couch, stretching before swiftly pulling his shirt over his, stretching out on his couch and pulling her down on top of him.

"I don't know about you but I'm exhausted." Spencer said, tenderly pulling Ashley's hair down from the braid she placed it in from earlier that morning, running his fingers through her shimmering hair before placing a kiss on her temple.

"Exhausted doesn't cover it. How are you feeling by the way? I know you haven't run the gauntlet that often." It was her polite way of saying he wasn't in as good of shape as he could have been, but he took the deflected question with grace.

"I'll be fine, I ran it two weeks ago with JJ and Derek, and Derek has been dragging me to the gym lately so it gets easier every time." He said, allowing his eyes to close as he blindly reached for a remote that was sitting next to the couch, pressing a button on it before setting it down on the table behind his head as the soothing sound of Debussy began to fill his apartment, shifting Ashley so she was facing the back of his couch, his body draped over hers as they fell into a light slumber.

* * *

A knock at the door woke Spencer up from his nap, as he blinked the sleep from his eyes, a glance at his wristwatch told him they had been asleep for roughly three hours. The knocking continued at a faster pace, causing him to shift Ashley so that she was lying flat on the couch before stumbling the front door of his apartment, pulling it open without removing the chain, internally grumbling at the dark-skinned man on the other side of his door.

"This better be important Morgan, I was asleep." Spencer almost growled, he wasn't that much of a morning person and he didn't like being woken up from his sleep.

Derek raised his hands in a mock defensive position before giving a full-bodied laugh.

"Sorry boy genius didn't realize you were asleep." He said, giving a slight push on the door that still had the chain across the door. "Are you going to let me in? I found some coffee when I went shopping this afternoon, and I know how much you like coffee."

True to his word, Morgan held up a large canister of dark roast coffee, along with a coffee mug with a bright yellow smiley face on it, a grin on his face.

Spencer didn't say anything just closed his front door long enough to remove the chain before allowing him entrance into his apartment. As Morgan entered the apartment he handed Spencer the canister of coffee before shrugging off his jacket.

"Why are you so quiet Reid, usually I can't…" when his eyes fell on Seaver curled up on Reid's couch a grin came over his face as he raised his eyebrow at his teammate.

Spencer didn't say anything just nodded his head towards the back of his apartment, fixing two cups of coffee before stepping into his second bedroom that served as his office, silently handing Morgan his cup of coffee.

"Damn, pretty boy, and here I thought it was just brought on by the case we were on. I didn't expect to see her in your apartment." Derrick said, taking a sip from his mug, grimacing at how strong Reid made his coffee.

"She lives two floors above me Morgan. Don't make it into something it's not." He said, finally sitting down into the chair that backed up to the only window in the room, motioning for Morgan to take any chair he wished as he took a drag from his coffee cup.

"I'm not making it into anything; you two just seem to spend a lot of time together here lately." Derek said, grinning before throwing Spencer the canister of coffee at Reid, who struggled to catch it, only spilling a small portion of his coffee from the cup that had been in his hands at the time the canister was thrown.

Reid just shot him a look that gave him enough of a hint that he needed to change the subject right as the front door to Reid's apartment slammed shut, telling Reid he had most definitely said the wrong thing and had been heard by the wrong person.

"Damn it Morgan, get out of here." Reid said before brushing past him, grabbing his shirt as he darted out the door of his apartment, taking a sharp left before jogging up two flights of stairs making it to her level right as Seaver slammed her apartment door shut.

He rapped on the door as he heard her put the chain on her door.

"Ashley, open the door." He said, knocking harder when she didn't answer after the first knock.

"Come on Ashley, I was just trying to get him off our case. It gets old, he's picked on me forever, it's just how he is."

He stopped knocking when he heard the chain being retracted from the latch. When it didn't open he frowned at the door.

"Please Ashley, I didn't mean it. I haven't had a relationship in years, I don't like them picking on me for it, but it's the truth." His voice cracked, as he sank to his knees outside her door as the door finally opened.

She didn't say anything as she silently motioned him into the apartment before entering her kitchen and pouring herself a glass of red wine, sipping on it as she returned to her living room, curling up into her overstuffed chair before pulling a throw blanket around herself and tucking her feet under her body as Spencer sank to his knees in front of her chair

"I am sorry Ashley. I am not going to lie; I am not very good at relationships. I can never tell when a girl's hitting on me or just playing with my emotions. I'm a genius but I am not good with emotions. I do like you, I don't want what we had to be a one-night stand event, and I'd like to get to know you. I grew up with a mother who was a professor of 15th-century literature; I'd like to court you if you'd allow it. Most girls…" he was stopped mid-ramble as she leaned forward capturing his lips in a kiss.

"Yes, Mr. Reid, you can court me if it's still your intention." She said, blowing a light stream of air into his ear as he pulled her wine glass from her hand before kissing the back of her hand and giving her a feather-light kiss across her lips.

"It would be my pleasure Miss Seaver. I realize we started this relationship on the wrong foot, would you do me the pleasure of going on a date with me tonight?" He asked, smiling at her when she silently nodded her head.

And so the courtship of one Spencer Reid and one Ashley Seaver began with one slow kiss and night of wild passion.

* * *

**Authoress Note**: I hope you enjoyed this ficlet! I realize I haven't written in a while but I would rather put something out there that had time and quality put in it than rush just to put something out; I did that with the last one shot I wrote and I won't compromise it again.

I have a one-shot going up tonight as well.

Do you want to see a** sequel** that follows their courtship? Let me know by review!

I also went back and fixed Derek's name. I have a friend named Derrick that spells his name that way so I am not surprised I made such a mistake. I do not mind constructive criticism but if you sat there and read all 8,000 words can I please get a review other than "you spelled something wrong" ?

I also could use a BETA for grammer/spelling across all fields as I write for several different fandoms when I do write. PM me


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